DALLAS, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The parent company of The Dallas Morning News charged Monday that House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, attempted to retaliate against the company through legislation for its coverage of his son's run for Congress.
But the retiring congressman was standing up for an independent news media in his district and the coverage of his son Scott Armey's campaign last spring was not the cause for the action, an Armey spokesman in Washington said in response.
On Friday, Armey asked Republicans to amend a pending military construction appropriations conference report to force Belo Corp. to divest itself of one of its Dallas-area media properties, according to The News. After some objections, the language was not included in the working draft of the bill, but the House and Senate conferees could still put it in the legislation this week.
"There is no substantive reason or explanation for this unprecedented action," said Robert Decherd, Belo chairman, president and chief executive officer, in Monday's story. "Congressman Armey's misplaced blame of Belo for his son's loss in a recent congressional primary race in Denton County, Texas, is truly unfortunate.
"His misuse of congressional leadership powers for personal retaliation toward Belo is not in keeping with the positive results Congressman Army has produced for his constituents during his long tenure as a member of the Texas congressional delegation."
Although the provision doesn't mention any specific media company, the language is written so it would only force Belo to sell one of its three Dallas-area media properties: The News, WFAA-TV, or the Denton Record-Chronicle. Belo owns 19 television stations, four daily newspapers and various cable and interactive properties around the country.
Terry Holt, communications director for the House majority leader, said Armey has always been concerned about maintaining an independent news media.
"In this particular case, Mr. Armey represents the constituents in this media market and felt that it was important at least in his constituency to send a signal that media independence is extraordinarily important and when people have no where to go but to the same company for news media that is not good service to civil life," Holt said.
An independent media would become even more important after campaign reforms take effect, because the political parties and other groups will have a more limited ability to get their ideas to the public outside the major media, he said.
"There is no question that The Dallas Morning News and its affiliates were active participants in the political campaign this spring," he said. "They did engage in some editorializing and in some opportune reporting to make their impact on the congressional campaign, but that's politics. But that action was more a symptom of a problem than a cause of this action."
Although similar ownerships exist elsewhere, Holt said the amendment was aimed only at Belo because the Dallas-based company serves Armey's district.
In their coverage of Scott Armey's run for Congress, the News and Record-Chronicle examined his record as a Denton County judge, the chief administrator in the county. Armey lost to political newcomer Michael Burgess in a Republican runoff.
In an interview later with Roll Call, a publication that covers Congress, the elder Armey blamed the newspaper, charging that the coverage was driven by "an outrageous vendetta against me that was focused on my son."
Bob Mong, president and editor of The News, defended the coverage in Monday's story.
"I would obviously disagree with the congressman's assessment of our work," he said. "We covered that story for well over a year, and I feel very comfortable with the substance and content of our work.
"I don't believe Scott Armey ever took issue with any of the facts," he said.
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(Reported by Phil Magers in Dallas.)
